Happily Never After: Cinderella II: Dreams Come True

And they live happily ever after…until they didn’t…yet somehow still did?

As I pour through pages upon pages of information regarding the Disney Animated Cannon, I can think of no other film, be it from analyzing pop cultural feedback or even reflecting on personal experience, that best epitomizes the perception of Disney and the tenants of fairy tale philosophy that have defined their perceived style of storytelling than “Cinderella.”

The black and white morality, clearly defined hero receiving her romantic reward in the face of adversity from clearly defined antagonists right down to the concluding sentiment defining their clear cut ending with the MO of fable revisionism and the word play of which constitutes the title for this series; living happily ever after.

“Cinderella” holds its noteworthy reputation within the cannon for several reasons transcending the audience and timeframe of its initial release.

Upon release, it was met with critical acclaim citing it as one of Walt Disney’s finest efforts yet and while the tale of Cinderella’s endurance of an unfortunate living situation under the servitude of her cruel family by marriage going karmically rewarded with a chance at love and happiness granted by her intervening magical fairy god mother is probably one of the most simplistic stories told within the cannon, it’s easy to see where the appeal stems from in terms of substantive analysis as well as historical context.

Hitting theaters in 1950, “Cinderella” was the first proper animated feature film with an individual cohesive narrative created by Disney since Bambi, released almost 7½ years prior.

With many of the key production staff of Walt Disney Studios drafted into World War II, the studio was left understaffed and starved for success after a string of commercial under performances, necessitating the strategic production of less expensive and production lighter package films released from the second half of 1942 throughout the remainder of the decade.

With the release of “Cinderella,” featuring all of Disney's Nine Old Men reunited under the studio’s banner as animation directors, the film was seen as a return to form and ushered in a roughly 17 year golden era of critically acclaimed animated classics that have become major marketing cornerstones for the company.

Though the film itself spins a rather basic tale, there’s an undeniable level of charm in its feel good simplicity. Cinderella endures the abuse of her family with an all too relatable hint of cynical self-awareness similar to that of a retail employee tasked with helping that one person that knows what they’re looking for yet unable to fork over actual details that would prove useful to fetching it, on a daily basis.

Although something of a feminist critique born out of her happy ending being magically handed over to her in the form of a man that sweeps her away from her life through the power of magical intervention isn’t without a fair bit of merit, the film’s intent on being a crowd pleasing feel good family feature with elements of wish fulfillment fantasy are very clear and for the most part, met well in execution.

When that execution’s conclusion definitively closes with happily ever after however, exactly where are you left to go from there? I doubt that even Disney had the answer to that question but what they did know is that their focus on the “Disney Princess” where marketing was concerned was beginning to yield regular pay days so if there was a way to make a sequel, money would find a way.

Similarly to “Beauty and the Beast: Belle’s Magical World,” “Cinderella II: Dreams Come True” is a production cobbled together from the aborted remains of what was intended to be a “Cinderella” television show and while I wish I could say that this would be the final time this ugly practice would rear its head, there is unfortunately an instance or 2 more over the horizon.

Also similarly to the aforementioned embarrassment to “Beauty and the Beast,” “Dreams Come True” begs the question that even if one were to hash out exactly how a sequel to its predecessor could possibly be told, how on Earth were they expecting to maintain a weekly 24 minute cartoon of what presumably would have been composed of at least 12 individual episodes on a nearly annual basis for the then foreseeable future?

There just isn’t enough content to really mine at the end of the day; Cinderella lives happily ever after and gets her just reward, leaving her harsh life behind in favor of one deserving of her endurance and hard work. As far as endings go, this is about as clear cut as it gets.

So what exactly does “Dreams Come True” bring to the table? A string of 3 mediocre short stories that illustrate exactly how little longevity this concept had, framed through the narrative of the Fairy God Mother and the mice creating a new book for their library based on true stories.

Why make anything involving the mice serve as the back bone for the framing narrative, much less the actual focus of one of the episodes themselves is beyond me but they nevertheless make up just that for one of the episodes in which Jaq is granted the ability to become human by the Fairy God Mother, to learn the hard way that his life of being at the bottom half of the food chain and being chased daily by fierce felines is apparently not that bad compared to the opportunity to be the species that your level of sentience actually matches.

Regardless of what little sense the greener grass on the other side plot makes within this context, it plays out nonetheless, so predictably that you can actually gauge exactly how it’s all playing out by watching the entire section muted.

Once more, I claim this not out of hyperbole but rather from actual experience, rewatching the section afterward with sound and realizing that I did not miss a single beat.

Although the remainder of the film isn’t much more successful, I do have to give credit where credit is due in that the other 2 episodes do at least feature a little bit of admirable forward thinking regarding what issues may actually arise from the ending of the first “Cinderella.”

The first episode sees Cinderella tasked with preparing major social banquettes upon return from her honeymoon, being confronted with the reality that how she conducts herself is at odds with what is traditionally expected of her as well as an understanding that bringing her sensibilities to the higher social circles is bound to cause some navigable friction.

Meanwhile, the final episode of the production fascinatingly shifts the focus to her efforts to assist one of her stepsisters, whose feelings for a lower class baker are opposed by her mother and revealing that Cinderella not only takes the high road regarding her abusive relationship but further hinting that perhaps the circumstances of that relationship were not evenly spread upon the shoulders of all family members involved.

There’s an undeniable streak of cleverness to the idea behind these stories and I commend them for coming up with a few ideas that could have been worth looking into for developing a proper “Cinderella” sequel, were one to decide such a sequel was even necessary. Ultimately however, “Dreams Come True” is just sunken by a generally pedestrian execution that fails to explore its better ideas in the depth that could have easily provided for a more satisfying experience. Then again, that more satisfying experience clearly wasn’t even priority when the initial plan for this was that of cash cow milking television series.

I should probably still offer it some commendation however, for still managing to at least look better than the actually edited for film return trip to Notre Dame de Paris.